"When I was 12 years old, a friend of mine told me that if I said 'rabbit' to someone the first day of the month before he or she said 'rabbit' to me, I would have good luck for the rest of the month. That evening when I got home, I said 'rabbit' to my mother, and when my father came home I said 'rabbit' to him. I explained the good luck theory to them and they were amused. Since then, my father and I go to great lengths to say 'rabbit' to each other on the first of the month. This past summer he was in Leningradand when the first of August rolled around I had no way of getting in touch with him. But about two weeks later, I got a postcard that said 'Rabbit! I tried to call you, but the logistics were overwhelming!'"

Note: This piece of friendship folklore was written in 1991 — before the collapse of the Soviet Union! Today, if Hannah's father were writing from the same city, it would be called St. Petersburg.